North Coast News editor Angelo Bruscas won three awards, including two first place honors, in results announced from the Washington Newspaper Publisher Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest. The contest is for weekly newspapers in the state.

Bruscas and the North Coast News won first place in the category Best Crime and Court Story for the 2016 story headlined, “Burglaries spark citizen concerns.” The story was about the formation of the Ocean Shores Block Watch group in response to local burglaries, and included information that citizens could use in battling neighborhood crime.

Another first place was in the category of Best General Short Feature Story for a story headlined, “Quinault Big Cedar finally falls.” The story was about a storm that snapped the state’s tallest tree and the local neighbors who discovered it last year.

Bruscas also won third place for Best General Long Feature Story for “Sand and Sawdust still together,” about the efforts to restore the annual Sand and Sawdust Festival to its original roots.

The awards were presented Friday Oct. 13 at the Red Lion in Olympia during the annual Washington Newspaper Publisher Association banquet.